


The Fortune-teller with Ocean Eyes

by SamCyberCat



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Alternate Universe - Sirens, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-07-29 22:30:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16273685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamCyberCat/pseuds/SamCyberCat
Summary: As Makoto is out in the ocean, about to take his last breath, he finds himself saved by a creature he never believed to be real. Yet is he truly being saved or is he in worse danger than he could possibly imagine? Siren AU.





	The Fortune-teller with Ocean Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Love Free! Week, Day Six, Prompt A: What does the future hold? Just a heads up that this one is a bit darker than my usual MakoHaru fluff fics. Not gonna lie, I'm kind of tempted to carry this on. Though I'd like to get my current multichapter project wrapped up first. Let me know if you want to see more of this fic and maybe I'll expand on it in future.

The last thing that ran through Makoto's head before he drifted out of consciousness was that day a few weeks ago, when he'd gone to see a fortune-teller with Gou. Makoto didn't have strong opinions on fortune-telling, which was exactly why he'd been the one who Gou had asked to go with him – he'd neither point out how ridiculous it was, like Rei would, nor get too excited over the whole thing and ask far too many questions, like Nagisa would.

Also, Makoto was a pushover, so it was easy to ask him to do anything.

Makoto had been polite and respectful throughout the reading. If anything, he was more taken in by it than Gou was, which the fortune-teller had picked up upon early into the reading and focused particularly on him. When the fortune-teller looked at him, Makoto felt his very soul was being drilled into. Perhaps it was the sweet smells of the oils and the rich purple atmosphere of the room, perhaps it was just that the fortune-teller was very pretty, with blue ocean eyes and dark hair, but Makoto found himself enchanted.

“You will meet the love of your life when you are close to death. They shall save you.”

He was haunted by those words. Gou told him not to worry about it. She actually found the whole thing kind of funny once they were back out in the fresh air. Clearly her itch for fortune-telling had been scratched and now she had no further interest in the matter. It was easy for her to leave the afternoon without a second thought, but Makoto couldn't stop himself from fixating on those words. And those eyes... What eyes that fortune-teller had.

Those eyes were what came back to him in his finally moments. He wanted to believe that he could see them again. Water filled his lungs, sharply cutting off his breath. He wouldn't last much longer.

He was about to die.

But out here in the ocean, he certainly wasn't going to meet the love of his life. Which could mean one of two things – either he wasn't actually close to death or the fortune-teller had been wrong. Given that Makoto saw no way out of this, he decided that the truth must've been the latter. It was an unfortunate way to have to learn that fortune-telling was bogus.

He closed his eyes and let the water overcome him.

***

The faint smell of salt reached his nose and stirred him from his slumber. Every part of his body ached. For a few minutes he just lay there with his eyes closed and listened to the seagulls overhead and the faint sound of the waves.

Wait... waves?

That must mean that he was above the water. But the last thing Makoto remembered he was about to-

...Makoto bolted up, which turned out to be a mistake, as it shot searing pain through his body. His eyes were wide open now. His chest quickly rose and fell as he breathed heavily. He was sitting on a beach. He was alive.

How was he alive?

The answer to that question came in the form of a man staring at him. He was a young man who looked around Makoto's age, his hair was dark and stuck to his head as if he'd just been swimming. Which, if he'd saved Makoto from drowning, must've been the case. But this man wasn't dressed properly for swimming so far out in the ocean. He was topless, right down to his...

...tail fin.

Oh. Okay. So Makoto had been saved by a merman. That meant Sousuke wasn't full of shit about them after all. He shook his head, smiling to himself despite the bizarre situation. Then he looked across at the merman, who was watching him curiously.

Makoto opened his mouth to talk, but the first thing that came out was a fit of coughing and a lot of sea water. He thumped his chest a few times until the coughing subsided and all the while, the merman watched him.

Right. Time to try again.

“Hey... I'm Makoto. Did you save me?” he asked, “Thank you very much.”

The merman continued to watch him.

“Ah, I guess you can't spea-”

“-I can speak your language,” interrupted the merman, “And you're welcome. But you shouldn't have been swimming so far from human shores.”

Makoto was taken aback by how abrupt the merman was, but he shook his head; “No, I was on a cruise with some friends. It was getting late and we were all a little drunk. I think I was... heading to the bathroom. That's the last thing I remember...”

“There are no human ships that ever come close to here. Are you sure that's what happened?” the merman asked.

“Yes, I'm sure. It can't have been anything else,” Makoto insisted, “How else would I get here? Where is here, anyway?”

Now that he was properly awake, Makoto looked around. As far as he could make out, he was on a desert island that seemed populated by nothing but far too noisy seagulls. There was a forest behind him and it was big enough that he couldn't see the other side of the island, but it didn't seem as if there was anyone other than the merman and himself around. There weren't any signs of boats or other evidence that people been here.

“It's land. Just like where humans live. Even if there aren't any humans here,” said the merman, “Maybe you can be the first.”

“What! I can't just... live here!” Makoto balked, “I need to get back home! I have friends and family waiting for me! I have a life! Heck, I don't even know if there's anything on this island that can sustain me.”

The merman pointed to a river that ran out into the ocean from the forest.

“There's fresh water here, so you can find and hunt animals,” he said, “You can live here. You have to live here, because you're too far away from where humans will come and you're too heavy for me to carry you all the way back without you drowning.”

“But what about my friends...?” Makoto repeated, “We were on the cruise and... there was a fortune-teller?”

Had the fortune-teller been on the cruise ship? Makoto realised that he couldn't remember. He'd gone to see the fortune-teller with... Sousuke? Or had it been Gou? It was someone, anyway. Makoto had gone to see the fortune-teller with those beautiful blue eyes and the fortune-teller had... saved him from drowning?

...Yes, that was what had happened.

“You will meet the love of your life when you are close to death. They shall save you.”

That voice... it soothed Makoto's soul. He wanted to believe everything that it said. And it turned out that everything it said had been right. The merman who'd saved him must be the love of his life. Suddenly, Makoto realised that he didn't need any more evidence than that.

Why was it that he had to leave the island again? He had to get back... to his friends and family...? But the more he thought of them, the less he could remember about any of them. Even their faces slipped from his mind. Had they even been real after all? If the merman said human ships never came here, then Makoto saw no reason to doubt that. He must've imagined the whole thing. Makoto must've... always been here on this island.

“This island... this is my home?” Makoto checked.

“Yes. It is,” assured the merman.

His voice was so comforting and familiar. When Makoto looked at him properly, he saw those ocean eyes that took all of his worries away. This was the person who'd saved him. The love of his life. Yet he didn't even know the merman's name...

“...What did you say you were called?” Makoto asked, his own voice sounding dreamy, despite how urgently he suddenly wanted to know the answer.

“I didn't. But my name is Haru,” said the merman.

“Haru...” Makoto repeated.

He liked the sound of that. He liked the way that it came out of his mouth. Just as much as he liked the merman's own voice and his eyes... Damn, he could look into those eyes forever.

“You should probably go build shelter, Makoto. Since this is your home now,” said Haru.

That made sense. Yet as Haru turned back towards the ocean, Makoto found himself becoming distressed. He reached out to grab Haru's arm in a panic. Haru jumped. He hadn't expected the sudden contact. Seeing Haru shocked like that... Makoto pulled his hand away.

“I'm sorry, I just... don't want you to leave...” Makoto mumbled.

Haru looked back at him and he smiled. He smiled in a way that Makoto felt right the way down to his stomach. In that instant, Makoto knew that he'd do anything to keep Haru smiling.

“I promise I'll come back,” whispered Haru.

He reached across to stroke Makoto's face and those soft hands with their blue nails made Makoto feel something even further down than his stomach. Makoto nodded eagerly, believing that Haru would come back, because Haru would never break a promise.

“I'll have shelter ready for when you come back,” said Makoto, “I'll build it close to the river, so we can stay together.”

“That's good. And I'll bring you food from the ocean, since you'll be far too busy to hunt today,” Haru replied.

Hunting... part of Makoto was sure that he'd never done it before, but for Haru, he would become a master. Makoto was tall and well-built – there was nothing he couldn't tackle. Not when he had Haru to impress.

“Thank you...” Makoto said.

“No, thank you,” purred Haru.

With that, Haru reached forward to kiss Makoto tenderly on his lips. Makoto had no idea if it was his first kiss or not, but he knew that it was the only kiss that mattered. He reached a hand up to stroke through Haru's hair, which was softer than he expected it to be. When Haru broke away, he was still smiling in that way that Makoto craved.

“Now go build your shelter, Makoto. I want you to be safe for if a storm comes,” said Haru.

“As you wish...”

Makoto got to his feet, the pain from before having vanished completely. He was spurred on by the determination to impress Haru... The merman, the fortune-teller, the love of Makoto's life... Makoto knew him by everything except what Haru actually was.

He had fallen to the siren's spell.


End file.
